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Saturday, May 28, 2011

Pneumonia and a G-Tube

What a week! Kyle is home after spending eight days in the hospital--first due to pneumonia, and as he recovered from that, we decided to go ahead with his g-tube (feeding tube) surgery while we were there.

He was admitted with pneumonia last week after his O2 sat was down to 82% on room air and a chest x-ray showed how junky his lower left lobe was. We spent the first four days on Q4 respiratory treatments and antibiotics and no roommate--whee!

The next four days involved an upper GI, the g-tube surgery, and recovery. The worst part was dealing with his pleas to eat food the day of his surgery (he was NPO from 4am until essentially 2pm the following day). He woke from anesthesia begging for Goldfish crackers, and we couldn't let him have any. I may or may not have snuck him a few Goldfish here and there when the nurses weren't looking. It's ironic what an appetite the kid had on the day he couldn't eat due to g-tube surgery.

This was definitely our most pleasant hospital stay yet. He wasn't contagious, so we were allowed to spend time in the 4th floor playroom, the cafeteria, and even go outside and enjoy some sunshine. And it wasn't flu/RSV season, so the nurses were happy and accommodating and instead of impatient and understaffed. It almost felt like we were on vacation at a resort. Almost.

We made the decision to take him to the E.R. just in time--if we had waited another day or so, he would have been even weaker (he refused to eat for two days before) and probably would have taken a lot longer than four days to recover. It was so nice to know that discharge would be "in a day or two" rather than "in a week or two".

And many thanks to my friends who live or work downtown who kept me fed and kept me company during our stay!

Photos of our stay, in chronological order:

Day 1. Feverish and ill and feeling yucky.


















He used to be quite fearful of elevators (those impatient elevator doors, ugh!), but he got really good at navigating in and out of them by the end of our stay.



















Kyle and his lady poodle friend, Dorothy. The volunteers at PCH came almost everyday with a new therapy dog to cheer Kyle up.


















Getting ready to watch Vancouver beat San Jose in Game 6 of the NHL Western Conference finals. Go Canucks Go! (He's also a Diamondbacks baseball fan.)


















Kyle was understandably cranky and hungry on the day of his g-tube surgery. The anesthesiologist saved our sanity by putting versed in his IV--the kid went from ornery and fussy to totally high in about fifteen seconds. Hilarity ensued.





















































Taking a jaunt outdoors, one day post-op.


















The view from our window of the tower that makes up the new and improved Phoenix Children's, which had it's ribbon cutting ceremony just yesterday. It's pretty rad.


















Kyle hauls ass to the elevators the minute his nurse removed his IV and handed us our walking papers. He didn't need much prompting to get out of there...




Many thanks to the RN's and PCT's who made our stay a pleasant one, and much thanks to Dr. Weiss and his magic tricks. Kyle still talks about them. :)

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Mom's Day in Pre-K

Wednesday was "Mom's Day" in the twins' pre-k class. Such a sweet idea, and very sweet crafts and songs they had prepared for us.

Ask me later how much fun it is to go back and forth between two classrooms for two children who wish that once, just once, they wouldn't have to share Mom. That's the only bad thing about having them in two difference classes--but other than that, the list of pros is very long.

How did I forget to ask someone to take my own photo with my children? How lame. That was the whole point of the day!


Singing a Mom song with her class.
















Kyle making a bracelet for/with me.
















I finally brought brother over to visit sister's class. She was happy to see him and he was happy to be there (because that's where I was).


















The special wooden seats with trays you see them each in are the Rifton chairs. I'd get a couple for the house if a) I won the lottery and b) if they were vertically adjustable. Other than that, those are some pretty nifty sit-and-play chairs which offer ample trunk and head support.

Friday, May 6, 2011

As You Wish--clutch when it comes to a gift for Grandma

Before kids (and while still enjoying our full DINK status), I never had a hard time knocking it out of the park every year when it came to a Mother's Day gift for my mom. Something about having kids depleted my creativity stores (and, um, wallet--wave goodbye to gifts from the Coach Store from now on, Mom), so unless she has hinted that she's almost out of her White Diamonds or that her Consumer Reports subscription is up for renewal, the most obvious choice of gifts is something that the kids make at the local paint-your-own pottery joint, As You Wish.

I took them there last weekend while Chris was out of town. As You Wish survived. The children's clothes, not so much.





Happy children, pre-painting.
















Jenna, shaking a paint bottle.
















Happy Lauren.














Kyle, who has since had a much-needed haircut.




















The finished product! We made a vase which reads, "We Love You Bunches!" along the top and the three kids' hand prints turned into flowers. I added four more expertly* hand-drawn flowers along the bottom to represent my sister and our husbands and me. This (sadly) might be our best As You Wish effort yet!




Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Coincidence?

The twins got their eligibility/welcome letters from the Make A Wish Foundation on the same day as a Disney Vacation solicitation.

A sign?